Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1887-09-23
THE PROHIBITION COLUMN.
THE FRJIT4GE OF Prohibit ON
IN k.4NSIS.
By Peter Mcvicar, D. D., President Of washburn
College.

;he autumn Of 1880 The law to en-
'orce this amendment went into effect
n May, 1882, a little over five years
lgo. The majority by which the
amendment was small. Many Of the
people were apprehensiye
IS to the result Would it not remain
l dead letter upon the statute booksl
For several years, even as late as 1885,
ia some cities the sentiment was
strongly against the enforcement. But
the growing sentiment of TIE people in
the rural districts and in the smaller
towns, became so intensified, that
county officers and state officials even
were made to feel the pressure of pop
ular indignation against the saloon and
against any city that persisted in !
thwarting the will of the people.
The most refractory points were Wis
tied by the attorney general OF the
state in person, and by the strong arm
of the law every saloon was closed.
1t may now safely be affirmed that the
prohibitory laws of Kansas arc en-
forced as effectively as other criminal
laws.
The Governor of the state, few
days since, addressed letter to the
general manager of the Associated
Press, in rcfutation of floating state
ments as to the failure of prohibition
in Kansas. At the adoption of the,
Constitutional Amendment, the Gov
ernor was one of those who believed
that the measure was a mistake, but
the results have fully convinced him
of the opposite. From statistics care
fully cleaned the following showing is
made:
In 1880 the population Of Kansas
vas 996, ,096; now it is fully l,650,6OO.
In 1880 Kansas had only 3,l04
miles Of railway; now about 1000
miles-more than double.
In 1880 the assessed valuation of
property, real and personal, aggregated
only sl60,s9!, $50; now the returns in
dicate total of 100000, 900 nearly
| double.
In 1880 Kansas had ), ,l54 school
houses, 2,51i churches, and 341 news
papers; now $500 school houses, $500
churches, and 700 newspapers,
In 1880 only So towns had popula
tions in excess of 1000; now over 200
towns have each over 1000 inhabi
tants, 25 towns each over 5000 inhab
itants, and four have each over 1000.
In 1880 only S,S6S,o00 acres were
planted in crops; this year the area
planted is l6, ,O0O,0 O,000-nearly double
In 1880 the value of the fam pro
ducts was about $84, ,521 900; in 1886
over $264, 100000.
| Duling the past two and one-hali
years II new counties were organized;
four more are about to be organized
with only two unorganized counties re
manning. The Governor closes hi'
communication with the following
strong and terse statements of the case
"The cities and towns of Kansas
with hardly an exception, have kept
pace in growth and prosperity with
this marvellous development Of the
state. Many of them have doubled
their population during the past year
aud 1t is a remarkable fact that scycra
cities and towns languished or stoct
still until they abolished their saloons
and from that date to the present TIM
their growth and prosperity has equaled
and in some instances surpassed, tha
of other places with equal natural ad
vantages.
The summing mp of the facts of ;
census confute and confound those whC
assert that the material prosperity O
any community is promoted by The
presence of saloons So as far as Kan
sas and all her cities and towns ar
concerned, the reverse of this assertion
is true. The most wonderful era o.
prosperity, of material, moral and in
tellectual development, of growth IL
the country, cities and towns evel
witnessed OH the American continent
has been illustrated in Kansas during
the past two years, the period of its
most energetic and complete enforce
ment."
The prolibitory movement now is
of the nature of a great moral reform
The people are behind it. And the
day may not be far distant when the
wonder will be, as in the case of Amer
lean slavery, that the saloon shoult
ever have been tolerated in any civil
lied community.